Those enigmatic entities can be a bogeyman to some (looking at you Knight Capital) and sufficiently powerful to move Kevin Slavin to label them the physics of culture. Follow Matthew Plummer-Fernandez as he charts the appearance and impact of algorithms on pop culture at algopop .

As every brand and its mother clambers over themselves to shoehorn GIFs into their end of year content, Wikigifs is a very welcome tonic. Go there, drift, and marvel at the (often absurd) visual vestiges of the largest Encyclopedia ever assembled.

This science is a jaw-dropping illustration of how far stem cell science has progressed. Scientists have engineered neural progenitor cells from urine. Progenitor cells are a halfway house between pure stem cells and fixed form cells.

Security researchers have uncovered a Botnet operating from within the Tor network. Botnets are computers under the control of central operator, and are utilised for spamming, DDoS attacks and more recently Bitcoin mining. What's novel about this botnet (entitled Skynet, would you believe) is that it operates via Tor, a hidden service protocol built by programmers designed for increased anonyminity and untraceability.

Admittedly, it's been some time since geek exclusively referred to passionate video gamers. Nevertheless, the Syrain rebels hacking ingeunity earns the accolade of geek(s) of the week. They've created a bespoke armoured vehicle (entitled SHAM II), and the mounted machine gun is controlled using counterfeit Playstation controllers .

When legalise gathers around a topic like this its definitely a sign that we're sliding into a banal future nobody expected. Kate Darling proposes extending legal rights to robotic companions, in a manner analogous to animal abuse laws.

Scientists that have synthesised artificial proteins that extend light reception in the human eye. The gains in light absorption would theoretically extend human vision close to the infrared spectrum, and would transform the world around us. "Something that looked white before would now look green with your new super red vision," says researcher James Geiger. Seeing as the eyes have it this week why not read this comprehensive guide to bionic eyes over at Extreme Tech.

TECHNONOMY OF THE WEEK: Bitcoin gains EU regulatory approval

Bitcoin made headlines around the world as Bitcoin-Central.net became the first Bitcoin exchange operating within the framework of European regulations. If you are late to the Bitcoin party, forget mining, but get the low down on it here.